THE FEAST OF EASTER BRINGS US PEACE AND JOY

(Therefore let us meet our resurrected Lord   everyday)

Resurrection happened in the dark with no witnesses. It was just the heavenly Father bending over the Son and breathing the spirit back into his flesh. As a result everything was shattered. It was the beginning of new creation, a new dawn.

In the history of the world only one tomb had armed men guarding a tomb that only had a dead body? If they knew fully well he was dead, where was the need to guard it? The usual answer is they did it to prevent his disciples from stealing his body and then claiming he was alive.

The disciples looked forward to anything but the resurrection. Disillusioned and frightened, they stayed behind closed doors. Their minds were closed to anything Jesus might have said about what would happen to him after his death. Therefore nothing would have been farther in their minds than a plan to steal his body. More importantly, how could anyone claim that someone has risen from the dead just by possessing a dead body?

The Pharisees remembered the words uttered by Jesus, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). And they must have recalled too his comparison of himself to Jonah – as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, the son of man too would be in the belly of the earth for three days and then would rise again.

So they must have been afraid of the third day. They must have been afraid that the dead man might suddenly begin to walk, the silent one might begin to speak and the pierced heart might palpitate to life.

The non-Jews were satisfied through nature that Christ was dead and Jews were satisfied through the law that he was dead. “So they went and made the grave secure; they sealed the stone and left the guard in charge” (Mt: 27:66).

The most significant fact regarding this spectacle of vigilance over the dead was that those who hated Jesus seemed to have expected the Resurrection but those who loved him and followed him did not. The disciples needed and even demanded proofs to believe in the resurrection of Christ.

Two women come to inspect the tomb in order to carry out their obligation of love – anointing his body. As the angel of the Lord descends from heaven, there is an earthquake, the stone before the tomb of Jesus is rolled back and the angel sits on it. Seeing the strange thing, the armed men are paralyzed with fear and fall down like dead men. The angel tells the women, “Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus the crucified, but he is not here.”

The important question is: As his disciples, do we really believe in and look for the risen Jesus? Do we really hope to find the risen Jesus in our daily lives and what happens to our world?

Friedrich Nietszche, the 19^th century philosopher, said once, referring to Christians, “For a group of people who claim to believe in Resurrection, none of them looks redeemed”. The undeniable signs of belief in the Resurrection are joy and hope which we possess and offer to others. If we don’t have and spread them, it may be that we live like the disciples did before the Easter Sunday.

Fr. Tony Andrade.